SPACEPHOTOS

Southern Florida, Florida, USA April 1998 The southern half of the Florida peninsula is visible from Cape Canaveral along the east coast to the Florida Keys. The synoptic nature of this view provides a unique opportunity to identify and locate the major geographic features in south Florida. These features include the densely populated southeast coast of Florida, including the greater Miami metropolitan area; the largely uninhabited Everglades at the south end of the Florida peninsula; the Fort Myers area (immediately south of the large bay on the west coast of the peninsula) and Lake Okeechobee (large dark feature northwest of the Miami area). The karst topography of central Florida is identified by numerous lakes (sink holes). These lakes are created by water reacting with the limestone rocks that underlay the Florida peninsula. The deep, blue water of the Gulf Stream is visible between Miami and Bimini Island in the Bahamas. The very bright spot off of the west coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico is the sun’s reflection off of the water’s surface (called sunglint or sun glitter)